


Days Gone By

by ariddlesorigin



Series: ReWritten [1]
Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 00:43:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/985601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariddlesorigin/pseuds/ariddlesorigin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Series rewritten with Daryl and Glenn as a married couple as opposed to just developing friends.</p><p>**In the process of being edited, sorry for any inconvenience this causes (9/7/2014).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The Walking Dead, and subsequently all that pertains to it, belongs to its creators, including Robert Kirkman, as well as AMC, and not me.
> 
> A large portion of this story, including plot and specific dialog, is taken directly from the episodes. This chapter features exact dialog taken from episodes two and three of season one. If that’s not your cup of tea, here’s your notice. Also, apologies in advance for any grammatical or structural errors, this isn't beta’d.
> 
> Idea originally came from a prompt over on the kinkmeme, though I don't have the link for it at the moment. I'll find it and post it later. Sorry.
> 
> I've decided to break the story up by the seasons, sorry for any inconvenience; title taken from Episode One of Season One as well as the comic book of the same name.  
> \-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Glenn has officially decided that he has made a terrible mistake with not coming alone on this supply run; up until now he’s made every trip by himself and hasn't had any major problems. Just in and out. However, the second he brings along additional people? It all completely goes to shit. To be fair, a lot of the blame does seem to fall on this new guy that he helped rescue from that abandoned tank: Rick (what a dumbass). With all the shooting and noise he’d made, they've found themselves completely boxed in an old department store by a group of walkers. 

Regardless, Glenn lets out a sigh of relief once he and Rick burst back through the department store’s side door into relative safety. Relative being the operative word here because Andrea almost blows Rick’s head off in a fit of rage over the situation until Morales gets her to back off; it appears she has no problems laying all the blame at Rick’s feet and she yells at him about how he’s pretty much killed them all. When Rick voices his confusion, Morales and the rest of the group lead him out to the front of the store where a group of walkers is attempting to bust in through the double glass door entry way; they proceed to explain the situation further now with the added bonus of a colorful walker backdrop: all of the shooting has essentially rung the dinner bell for every walker in the area. Rick seems to be genuinely remorseful over the situation he’s caused. However, they’re interrupted again by the sound of even more gun shots; Glenn gives a quick glance around to see who is missing and comes to the realization that it’s his brother-in-law mere seconds before Andrea announces it to the group. 

_Shit,_ Glenn thinks, before he urges Rick to follow after the others who are already taking off in the direction of the roof, where it appears the sounds of the gun shots are coming from. He bursts out of the door and onto the roof behind the others to see his brother-in-law, Merle Dixon, firing off shots into the city of walkers below; Glenn gets a good look at Merle’s face and feels an uneasy pit form in his stomach—this isn't going to go well. He’s proven right mere moments later when a fight breaks out in the group after heated words are exchanged between T-Dog and Merle: Rick gets punched and knocked aside before Merle gets T-Dog on the ground and refuses to let up. Morales tries to help but is just as easily repelled. Glenn doesn't know what to do, especially when Merle whips out a gun, so he stands back with Andrea and Jacqui as Merle starts spouting about how he’s in charge now. 

They quickly drag T-Dog out from underneath Merle’s grasp once he stands up to continue talking about how he’s the boss now and Glenn flinches when Rick comes up beside him and knocks him in the head while he’s distracted; as he’s struggling to recover, Rick quickly pulls out a pair of handcuffs and cuffs one of Merle’s hands to an old pipe. He considers intervening up until the point Rick digs the drugs out of Merle’s pocket: Merle’s unpredictable when he’s drugged out of his mind and it would be safer for all of them to just have him incapacitated right now. Besides, he’s not in any true danger at the moment, so Glenn bites his tongue and sits back, ignoring the looks Merle sends his way. 

The group attempts to settle down on the roof after that minor shitfest and they find out more about Rick while explaining their situation; he was a cop from a small town outside of Atlanta who is currently looking for his wife and son and came into the city looking for the answers, such as the refugee camp. Glenn’s group mentions that that’s a pipe dream, but they have a small camp of survivors on the outskirts of town. A group that they need to get back to, but it appears that finding a way is going to be difficult because the streets are so unsafe; Rick mentions something about trying underneath the streets in the sewers and Jacqui pipes up that the building they are in might have a drainage tunnel that could lead into the sewer in the basement. 

They, minus T-Dog and Merle, all head down to the basement and sure enough, find some sort of tunnel apparatus. Ugh, and they of course volunteer Glenn to go down into it. However, Glenn has to speak up and explain that he doesn't want all of them going down there—look at all the shit that bringing this many people with him has already caused; he rather not take the chance and get himself killed. With Rick’s encouragement, he doles out duties to each member of their small group—Rick and Andrea take guard duty, Jacqui takes watch and Morales comes with him—before he heads down into the hole. At first, things seem promising until they reach the actual sewer tunnel and run into a grated entrance and a walker eating a rat. _Fuck,_ curses Glenn inwardly as they hurry back the way they came, _this idea’s a bust._

When he, Morales and Jacqui meet back up with the others, Morales informs Andrea and Rick that the sewer tunnels are a no go. Glenn notes that the walkers have finally broken through the first set of glass doors and are steadily working on the next and final set. Worried, Andrea states that they really need to find a way out and soon so they all head back towards the roof. Once there, Rick pulls out his binoculars and scans the area, finally settling on a construction site a little ways off from their current building. He mentions how they always leave the keys for the trucks on site, but Morales and Glenn point out the flaws in this plan: they’ll never get past the walkers, there’s no way to distract them and so on. Rick wonders how the walkers actually operate and Glenn mentions that they’re sort of like dogs while Andrea comments on them using their sense of smell, citing the key factor that, “they smell dead and we don’t.” 

Rick’s quiet for a few moments before he leads the group downstairs yet again and explains his plan. To be fair, they’re all skeptical about this but as Rick points out, they’re quickly running out of time and appear to be out of other options. Two members of their group run outside to grab a walker they had previously killed in the alleyway during their rescue of Rick and drag the body inside. They grab some overcoats, gloves and face masks and quickly put them on. Glenn figures that this should be treated with the band-aid approach—just rip it off quickly. Or in this case, just smash this fucker’s face in and rub guts all over yourself quickly. Because of course, he’s been volunteered again to go. He’s just prepared himself for it when Rick lifts the ax to swing down on the corpse but freezes at the last minute. 

Then he stops, kneels beside the guy and pulls out his wallet to tell some touching story about his life and how it meant something. Glenn gets it—but he’d really like to get this over with. And hey, at least this guy was an organ donor; that makes him feel better about this situation. Once that’s over with, they proceed to hack the hell out of this guy and smear his insides all over himself and Rick and Glenn tries really hard not to, but he can’t help it and he ends up puking. When they’re finally ready to go and Rick warns the rest of them that they need to be ready for when they get back, Glenn gets ready to ask about Merle but T-Dog beats him to it. Rick hands over the key to the handcuffs, effectively putting the responsibility onto T-Dog. 

Sufficiently covered in a plethora of freaking walker guts, he and Rick head out the door and successfully shamble past two walkers. Glenn feels the stirrings of hope that their plan might actually work when the walkers don’t pay any attention to them. He’s a little freaked, okay a lot freaked out, when they crawl under the bus and emerge on the other side to find themselves completely surrounded by walkers. Thankfully, the stench of walker guts continues to effectively hide their own scent underneath and they begin to stumble their way toward the construction site. Glenn can’t believe their luck and mentions that they’re actually going to make it to Rick, but he warns Glenn not to draw attention to himself. Of course, their luck can’t hold and it begins to pour down rain onto the both of them, effectively starting to wash off the guts and their disguise. Horrified, Glenn starts to panic and calls out to Rick. “The smell is starting to wash off, isn't it!?” 

At first, Rick tries to calm him down by protesting that it isn't, but he gives up quickly enough and swings an ax into the forehead of the walker sniffing closest to them and orders Glenn to start running. After that, it’s a panicked, mad dash toward the construction site and they quickly climb over the fence as fast as they can. Glenn grabs the ax and heads for the key box while Rick stays behind and shoots at any of the walkers climbing over the fence in attempts to give them more time. Once Glenn gets the box open, he grabs a set and tosses them to Rick before taking off toward the corresponding vehicle, in this case a white truck. The two of them barely make it before the gates holding back the walkers come crashing down. 

They drive off in the truck to avoid the herd behind them and Rick mentions that they need to create a diversion so that he can get back to the department store loading bays to pick up the rest of the group and asks Glenn to relay the plan back to T-Dog via their radios. When Glenn questions how they are supposed to create such a diversion, Rick responds that they’ll need to make a lot of noise. This leads them to setting off a car alarm and hot wiring a red sports car which Glenn drives around the city and back to the loading bay and uses to draw as many of the walkers away that he can. He winds his way through town until he finds himself on a familiar highway. 

He doesn't relax until he sees the truck ahead of him on the highway, signifying that Rick was successful in getting everyone out—or at least, he hopes that everyone got out. He passes the group and calls out to them, for once, enjoying himself and the ride: it’s been a while since he was able to just let go and have a little fun. With that thought in mind, he pushes his foot down on the gas a little harder and continues on his way to the camp, unfortunately unable to shut off the car alarm. When he gets back to the camp, Shane yells at him for it but he doesn't let it spoil his mood—that unfortunately happens when the rest of the group returns and he realizes that one of the group members is missing: his brother-in-law. And seriously, it’s great that Rick is actually Carl’s dad and Lori’s missing husband and their family is whole again, but what the fuck about his family? Merle might not have been the best person around and he probably actually hated Glenn’s existence, but he was still his family and he certainly meant something to his husband—.

His husband. Daryl. _Oh shit._

Glenn retreats back to his tent while everyone enjoys their reunions and wonders just what the hell he’s going to tell Daryl, just how the hell he’s going to explain that he left part of their family behind handcuffed to a roof-top. Before he knows it, a couple of hours have passed and Dale comes to tell him that it’s time for dinner and he shuffles solemnly out to sit by the fire and doesn't eat anything. He just sits and listens while Rick talks about his experience of waking up and feeling disoriented and making his way to Atlanta. Shane also briefly gets into it with Ed, the abusive bastard, but thankfully it’s only a slight verbal spat. 

Finally, Dale brings up the subject that Glenn’s been stuck thinking about all afternoon. “Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won’t be happy to hear his brother was left behind.” 

“I’ll tell him. I dropped the key. It’s on me,” T-Dog speaks up, quietly and sadly. 

“I cuffed him. That makes it mine,” Rick counters. 

“I did what I did. Hell if I’m gonna hide from him,” T-Dog responds. 

“We could lie,” Amy butts in. 

_Like hell they’re—like he’s—going to lie about it,_ Glenn thinks furiously before Andrea says, “Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he’d have gotten us killed.” She turns to look at Lori specifically, “Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody’s fault but Merle’s.” 

Glenn internally winces at Andrea’s words, but he’s having trouble finding fault with them, the first set at least. Merle was drugged off his ass and waving a gun in their faces. Brother-in-law or not, Glenn’s not sure if that would have stopped Merle from shooting him if he had spoken out against him. But still, they shouldn't have just left him handcuffed on that roof…regardless of whether or not they want to admit it, they are all still at fault somewhat for Merle’s fate.

Dale skeptically looks around at all of them, “And that’s what we tell Daryl? I don’t see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the wise—we’re going to have our hands full when he gets back from this hunt.” 

Frowning, Glenn looks around at the members of the group. He knows that Daryl can be a little rough around the edges and he doesn't really open up to people, but he’s not a bad guy and he’s certainly nothing like Merle. He assumes that most of these people have formed their opinions on Daryl based on his association with Merle and that’s not really fair. Before this whole mess started, Glenn and Daryl hadn't even seen Merle for close to a year; the only reason they were sharing the same space now was so that Daryl could try to get a handle on some of Merle’s behavior so that they could continue to stay here. 

“I was scared and I ran.” T-Dog says, “I’m not ashamed of it.” 

_I am._ Glenn thinks. _And I wasn't there. I should have told Rick to uncuff him before we left._

“We were all scared. We all ran. What’s your point?” Andrea asks. 

“I stopped long enough to chain that door.” 

Glenn freezes, feeling a small seed of hope begin to grow for the first time since he got back this afternoon and found out that Merle was in fact missing from the return party. 

“Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It’s not enough to break through that—not that chain. Not that padlock. My point—Dixon’s alive. And he’s still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That’s on us,” T-Dog continues with conviction, looking each of the Atlanta party in the eyes before getting up to leave. 

_He’s right. It is. But Merle could still be alive and it’s possible that we could go back for him._

Andrea glances over at T-Dog leaving before looking back at Rick, “I don’t mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy.”

Glenn just feels sickened by the whole thing at this point. Seriously? “I’ll tell him. It’ll be better coming from me.” 

“How the hell will it be better coming from you?” Shane questions incredulously. 

Glenn rolls his eyes so hard he hopes these people can _feel_ it. “Because he’s my husband and Merle was my brother-in-law.” Then ignoring the looks from the group, Glenn gets up and dusts himself off before starting to make his way back toward his tent before they can start badgering him with any questions. 

\---

The next day finds Glenn sitting outside his tent once again considering what to do about the Merle situation. No one’s approached him to say anything about what he had revealed last night, but he’s caught several members of the camp outright staring at him—namely Dale, Andrea, Shane and T-Dog. And Glenn, he gets it, he really, really does. They hadn't really acted like they were married—they’re sleeping in separate tents for fucks sake—but things have been pretty crazy lately what with the world ending and they've had bigger priorities to attend to. There’s also the fact that they really don’t look like they should even be in a relationship according to some people, let alone married, but Glenn says fuck that shit. Who cares what they look like if they love one another? Who cares if Daryl’s clearly over a decade his senior, that he’s Korean or that Daryl’s a god damn sweaty-redneck. He doesn't care what these people think. 

He eventually comes to the realization that there really is no way to sugarcoat what went down in Atlanta and resolves to just hope for the best when he hears the startled screams from several kids in the camp. He jumps up and rushes after a group of people who include Rick and Shane and they all stumble upon a deer that’s clearly been shot with some of his husband’s arrows. While Glenn personally finds that fact interesting, everyone else is more interested in the fact that a walker has managed to make its way up to camp and is currently eating said deer. _Fuck, Daryl’s going to be pissed. About more than one thing now._ Glenn groans and Andrea and Amy shoot him twin questioning glances.

It doesn't notice them at first, too busy eating the deer. They just stare at it for a few moments before it finally catches a whiff of their scent and rises with a growl. He, Shane and Rick each take turns bludgeoning the walker with their weapon of choice (best to avoid gunshots whenever possible to avoid the noise) until Dale finally beheads it with an ax. He claims that this is the first one they've ever had up this far and Jim comments that they’re running out of food in the city and thus must be seeking out other places for sources. They hear a rustling in the bushes and turn in that direction, weapons raised, but Daryl comes stomping out of the woods complaining about how he’d been tracking this deer for a couple of days only to have it gnawed on by a “filthy, disease-bearing, motherless-poxy bastard.” 

After he shoots the walker’s decapitated head to officially kill it and scolds them as a group, he retrieves his arrows and heads into the camp shouting for Merle. “Oh, god,” Glenn stutters out loud, hurrying after him. 

Glenn finally catches up to his husband, who’s still calling for Merle to come help him with the squirrels he'd managed to catch and grabs a hold of his hand. “Daryl. Wait, there’s something I have to tell you.” Daryl doesn't jerk out of his hold, much to the surprise of the others, he’s sure, who've apparently gathered around to watch the spectacle, but instead turns and gives Glenn his full attention, after giving him a quick once over for any visible injuries. 

Unfortunately, Shane chooses the moment to intervene, “Daryl. Just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you.” Seriously? Didn't they just talk about this last night? Didn't he say that he would tell Daryl? 

“About what?” 

“About Merle. There was a—a problem in Atlanta.” 

Daryl drops Glenn’s hand and takes a step away from him, turning his full attention to Shane. “He dead?” 

“We’re not sure.” 

“He either is or he ain't!” 

Rick decides to make the situation worse by butting in with, “No easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it.” 

Daryl shoots a confused glance back at Glenn before turning back to Rick. “Who are you?” 

“Rick Grimes.” 

“Rick Grimes. You got something you want to tell me?” 

“Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof. Hooked him to a piece of metal. He’s still there.” 

“Hold on. Let me process this. You’re saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there!?” 

“Yeah.” 

Daryl merely stares at Rick for a few moments before taking a swing at him, only to be tackled by Shane. This causes Daryl to pull out a knife and go after Rick. The situation escalates until Daryl finds himself in Shane’s choke-hold with a gun trained on him and Glenn’s nearly hysterical. This could have been prevented (okay, maybe not, but it could have been handled better if they had just stayed out of it and let him handle it)! 

“You’d best let me go!” 

“Nah, I think it’s better if I don’t,” Shane snarks back. 

“Choke-hold’s illegal," Daryl spits out. 

“You can file a complaint,” Shane, the bastard, bemusedly replies.

“Come on, man. We’ll keep this up all day.”

“I’d like to have a calm discussion on this topic,” Rick says, kneeling down to where Shane’s gotten Daryl on the ground. “Do you think we can manage that?” 

“Mmm, yeah,” Daryl finally relents and Shane shoves him to the side. 

“What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others,” Rick declares. 

“It’s not Rick’s fault. I had the key,” T-Dog butts in, again. “I dropped it.” 

“You couldn't pick it up?” Daryl asks annoyed. 

“Well, I dropped it in a drain.” 

“If it’s supposed to make me feel better, it don’t,” Daryl spits as he gets up off the ground and starts to walk away. Glenn takes a step in his direction, unsure of his welcome at this point (not that he blames Daryl). To his surprise, however, Daryl doesn't rebuff his approach so Glenn continues until he’s standing directly beside him. 

“Well, maybe this will,” T-Dog replies. “Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him—with a padlock.” 

“It’s gotta count for something,” Rick says. 

“Hell with all y’all!” Daryl shouts, distraught. “Just tell me where he is, so’s I can go get him.” 

“I’ll show you,” Glenn says quietly, reaching over to reclaim Daryl’s hand. He turns to look at him and Glenn just wants to beg for forgiveness but Lori chooses that moment to speak up as well. 

“Rick’ll go as well. Isn't that right?” 

When Rick confirms it with, “I’m going back,” Lori turns and heads into the trailer, obviously dissatisfied with his decision. 

Daryl spits and picks up his bow and arrows, before stalking over to the truck, yanking the door open and jumping inside. Glenn looks over at the others briefly before walking over to the tent to grab his backpack then follows after him. Once he gets in the truck, he looks over at Daryl and feels so overwhelmingly ashamed again. “Daryl, I’m so, so sorry.” 

Daryl sighs wearily before reaching over to tug Glenn into his side, “Tell me.” 

Burying his face in Daryl’s neck, he spends the next several minutes relaying what went down on the supply run from having to rescue Rick and how that fiasco turned into having to find a way to escape from the department store. His voice gets small when he gets to the part of the story concerning Merle, but Daryl doesn't force him away, merely holds him tighter. When he’s done, Glenn doesn't know what to do with himself, he just feels like a horrible person—he left his brother-in-law handcuffed on the roof of a building like an animal—but Daryl merely brushes a kiss a top his head and mutters, “We’ll make it right.” Nodding, Glenn leans up to press a kiss to his cheek before moving back to his own seat, wiping his eyes before the others get in the car. 

“Jesus Christ, what’s taking them so long?” Daryl mutters angrily, laying into the horn. A few moments later, Rick and T-Dog finally join them and Glenn slips into the driver’s seat to start the engine. He pulls out onto the dirt path that leads up to the winding road that will lead them back to the city and hopefully Merle. 

“He better be okay,” Daryl sneers over at T-Dog. “That’s my only word on the matter.” 

“I told you the geeks can’t get at him,” T-Dog replies. “The only thing that’s gonna get through that door is us.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Again, dialog lifted from episodes three and four from season one, so here’s your warning. 
> 
> Sorry for any structural/grammatical errors.  
> \---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Glenn’s pulled the white cube-van to a stop at the railroad tracks that crisscross one another on the outskirts of the city. He’s used this as a way into and out of Atlanta before and thankfully the abandoned railroad station still remains blissfully geek-free. “Sorry,” He says as he reaches down to unhook his seatbelt before looking back at T-Dog and Daryl who are seated in the back of the truck. “We have to go on foot from here.” 

The four men clamor out of the jeep and begin checking over their various weapons, or in Glenn’s case his trusty backpack (the last trip into the city was obviously disastrous, so if he sees anything useful, he’ll try to bring it back to camp), and equipment before turning to face the desolation that is now Atlanta. He takes a fortifying breath and turns to face the group just as Rick speaks up, “Which first—the guns or Merle?” 

Glenn forces down a groan and shoots a quick glance over at Daryl, swearing that the man’s hand just twitched towards his crossbow. _Lovely,_ Glenn thinks, _thanks for that, Rick._ He manages to keep all of his opinions about Rick’s judgment and character to himself, though, and tries to appeal to him through logic: going for Merle makes the most sense, not only because it would be the more humane thing to do, but because if they went for the guns first, it would mean they would have to double back in the end. 

Rick blessedly doesn't argue over Glenn’s advice and T-Dog tacitly agrees so soon they’re on their way; they slowly make their way on foot under the overpass and proceed into the city without any incident. As they begin to leave the outskirts of the city and actually progress into Atlanta itself, walkers start appearing but the men manage to maneuver around them without drawing attention unlike last time. While Glenn certainly feels safer this time around with Daryl at his back, he only feels the tension he’s been carrying around in his shoulders ease when the department store they left Merle at finally comes into view. 

A quick perusal of the area reveals that the majority of the walkers from before have cleared out of the area (and thinking back on this, Glenn should have realized that this should have been a clue) and the group moves as quickly as it can without attracting attention to itself toward the entrance of the store. Daryl takes out a few walkers on the way with his crossbow to open up a path and snags the arrows back up as he passes by (ammunition is a precious commodity nowadays, after all). Once inside, the four men continue on their way through the store’s main floor, killing an additional pair of walkers so that they can reach the stairs in the back. Finally, after what seems like an eternity to Glenn, they arrive at the door that T-Dog chained and padlocked shut to find that it remains undamaged and intact. 

Rick pulls out the bolt cutters that he previously negotiated away from Dale before they left camp and makes quick work of the barriers preventing them from exiting out onto the roof. Daryl forces his way past the other three and out onto the roof first, quickly followed by Rick and then Glenn and T-Dog. Glenn wants to let out a breath of relief that they've finally gotten back to Merle without a problem, but he is interrupted by a shout of distress from Daryl; shoving Rick to the side, he darts over to his husband to see what’s wrong. However, once he gets there, he immediately wishes that he really hadn't. 

Instead of finding Merle safe and relatively unharmed like Glenn had hoped they would, the only sight before them is a bloodied pair of handcuffs still hanging from the piece of metal to which Rick originally cuffed them and an equally bloodied, severed hand that sits off to the side. Dale’s hacksaw, which he’d loaned to T-Dog along with several other tools, lies nearby. 

He suppresses the urge to vomit before turning his attention to Daryl who is quite honestly quickly losing his shit; Rick and T-Dog can’t do anything but look at him helplessly—it isn't as though any of them predicted that Merle would cut his hand off before they could get back to him. Granted, this is probably something Glenn should have considered—it’s not as though they had given Merle any hint that they would actually be coming back for him. 

As Daryl becomes increasing more upset, Glenn moves forward and wraps his arms around his husband, attempting to murmur soothing nonsense into his ear. Daryl allows him to hold him for only a few moments before his distress quickly turns to white-hot rage and he slips from his arms only to heft his crossbow up into T-Dog’s face. To T’s credit, he doesn't flinch, merely stares back at Daryl unblinkingly. 

“Dar—“ Glenn starts to protest, but cuts himself off as Rick pulls his revolver out and points it at Daryl. “I won’t hesitate. I don’t care if every walker in the city hears it,” Rick warns. The next several seconds are tense until Daryl finally relents and both men lower their weapons. Daryl turns his attention back to T. “You got a do-rag or something?” 

T-dog wordlessly hands one over and to Glenn’s utter dismay, his husband gingerly picks up Merle’s hand and places it into his backpack. He tries to suppress his wince—he doesn't care if it was once attached to his brother-in-law, that is a severed hand!—but is pretty sure he fails when he feels Daryl press his forehead briefly to the back of his head before moving away. As he’s hoisting the backpack further up onto his shoulders, he notices a trail of blood on the ground that leads away from the area where Merle would have amputated his hand; he turns to point it out to the others, but it seems Daryl’s already taken care of that so he dutifully follows after him. The trail winds around the roof top and leads over to another entrance down into the building; T-Dog pauses long enough to pick up Dale’s tools that he’d left behind before then follows. 

\---

The trail takes them down into the lower levels of the building, past several dead walkers (whom must have been killed by Merle), into a kitchen area where they discover evidence that leads them all to conclude that Merle at least survived long enough to cauterize his wound. Glenn makes a disgusted face as Rick lifts up a flat-iron that has crusted-skin remains on it and inspects it, humming thoughtfully; Daryl raises an eyebrow before commenting, “Nobody can kill Merle but Merle.” 

“Don’t take that on faith, he’s lost a lot of blood,” Rick remarks. _Seriously, Rick._ Glenn despairs internally. 

“Yeah.” The blood splots on the floor that they've been following lead from the kitchen over to a window that has been smashed out. Leaning out the window, Daryl notices that it lets out directly over the fire escape. It seems likely that Merle’s no longer in this building. “Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap.” 

T-Dog makes a strangled noise. “He left the building? Why in the hell would he do that?” 

“Why wouldn't he? He’s out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he’s got to do. Surviving.” 

Scoffing, T-dog counters with: “You call that surviving? Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?” 

Daryl whirls on him, “No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks.” Then he turns to Rick. “You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard.” 

“What about 1,000 dumb dead bastards?” Rick asks, “Different story?” 

“Why don’t you take a tally? Do what you want, I’m gonna go get him.” And with that, Daryl turns to move past Rick. 

However, Rick reaches out to stop and push him back, “Daryl, wait!” 

Incensed once again, Daryl snaps at Rick, “Get your hands off me! You can’t stop me!” 

Glenn watches the exchange worriedly in the background, chewing on his lower lip. Regardless of what Daryl chooses Glenn’s going to follow after him. 

“I don’t blame you,” Rick begins, “He’s family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel.” Rick then surprisingly offers to help Daryl search the streets surrounding the department store once it becomes clear that Daryl isn’t going to just give up on his search for his brother. “He can’t get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head.” When he turns to look at Glenn, Glenn merely offers him a flat look in response and shifts closer to his husband (wasn't Rick listening to Daryl talk about family?) so Rick doesn't even bother asking after all, just continues onto T-Dog instead. T’s more hesitant in his willingness to help. 

He scoffs. “Only if we get those guns first. I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" 

Not that Glenn can actually really fault him for that; they could all use the extra protection that those guns and ammo would provide and now that they know that Merle isn't actually in this department anymore, his earlier arguments no longer apply. With that in mind, the four head upstairs to an abandoned office where Glenn snatches up a dry erase marker and reviews the outline of the city in his head. He goes through several scenarios and discounts each one as he considers his mental map until he finally settles on an acceptable plan. 

He brings the marker to the floor and quickly sketches out a crude outline on the floor while Rick and T-Dog murmur quietly behind him over the best way to go about getting the guns, not really paying attention to him; Daryl’s a warm, yet silent, presence at his side watching him work. When he’s gotten everything figured out, he turns to call Rick and T over to explain. 

\---

“You’re not doing this alone,” Rick automatically protests. 

“It’s a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out.” Glenn argues back. “If we go out there in a group, we’re slow, drawing attention. If I’m alone, I can move fast. Look.” He picks up a binder clip and places it on the corresponding place on his map. “That’s the tank, five blocks from where we are now.” Then he drops a crumpled of piece of paper in front of it. “That’s the bag of guns. Here’s the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That’s where Daryl and I will go.”

“Why Daryl?” Rick asks. 

“His crossbow is quieter than your gun,” Glenn responds. _Amongst other things._

Rick concedes the point with a quick nod. Glenn drops a small sliver of post-it tabs on the map where an alley is supposed to be. “While Daryl waits here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag.” 

Kneeling down, Rick looks over the map, “You got us elsewhere?” 

Nodding, Glenn continues with his explanation, “You and T-Dog, right. You’ll be in this alley here.” Once he finishes speaking, he places down a pink eraser in the designated alley for illustration. 

“Two blocks away? Why?” Rick questions confusedly. 

“I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won’t go back to Daryl. I’ll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we’ll all meet back here.” 

“Hey kid, what’d you do before all of this?” T-Dog asks, throwing an incredulous look at him. 

Glenn snorts, looking over his shoulder to meet Daryl’s eyes; he holds his gaze as he thinks back about that part of their life and the resulting arguments that came from that. Daryl had never really liked his job has delivering pizzas, he had wanted him to focus on school, but Glenn hadn't had a problem with both. 

_Glenn slips out of the classroom, carelessly shoving papers into his bag as maneuvers his way past fellow students and heads toward the quad and where he left his bike. While he generally enjoys his classes, he’s definitely glad that this is his final semester and he’ll be graduating in the spring. After that? Well, that’s a whole other problem that he just doesn't want to think about right now. He picks up his pace slightly when his bike comes into view; as Glenn comes to a stop beside it and kneels down to undo the lock, he glances at his watch to gauge whether or not he has enough time to run by the garage where Daryl works before his evening shift starts. Biting his bottom lip in indecision, he mulls it over for a few moments before finally just deciding that he can manage it if he makes it a quick visit._

_Ten minutes later, Glenn finds himself biking to a stop outside the locally owned garage where his boyfriend works. He dismounts and walks the bike over to lean it against the fence before heading inside through one of the open doors in the back, waving to a few of the guys that he recognizes. He doesn't see his boyfriend anywhere but he does hear one of the guys in the back call out, ‘Dixon! Your boytoy’s here,’ and he’s sure he turns an absolutely horrifying shade of red. To prevent further embarrassment, Glenn quickly hurries in the direction that the guy called out toward, the man’s laughter trailing after him._

_After that, it’s not hard for Glenn to spot the familiar mess of brown hair amongst the others in the shop; Daryl’s not facing him when he first approaches, but turns around before he even gets close (Glenn’s gotten over how freaky his hearing seems to be by this point). “’Thought you were in class?”_

_“Well, I was. And then I wasn't….because class ended. I just wanted to come say ‘hi,’ and tell you that I won’t be home until late tonight because I switched a shift with Jared, and what’s with that look. Stop with the look! We’ve already had this argument, many, many times. I like my job. I need my job. Plus, think about how fit it keeps me with all of the delivery bike riding!” Glenn teased, flexing the muscles in his left arm only to have to glare in mock outrage when Daryl snorted at his less-than impressive display._

_“Don’t mean I have to like it.” The older man snarked in reply, before leaning past Glenn to pick up a towel from the bench to begin cleaning the oil from his hands._

_“I suppose that’s fair. I’m not quitting my job, Daryl, but I commend you on your personal growth in taking steps toward accepting that fact.”_

_“You should—“_

_“Mm-hm,” Glenn agrees, leaning forward to cut Daryl off with a kiss. “There are lots of things I should be doing. This is one of them.” Thankfully, Daryl gives up with the arguing (for now, he never really gives up on arguing; he merely lets it go temporarily and lies in wait until he can catch Glenn off guard. Particularly when he’s half asleep—God, the things Glenn’s agreed to while sleep-stupid.) The duo spend the next ten minutes necking like a pair of teenagers outside of the garage before Glenn catches sight of the time and has to rush off to work._

“Glenn?” Rick questions. 

Glenn jerks out of his reminiscing at the sound of Rick calling his name and breaks his gaze with Daryl, a faint blush staining his cheeks. He turns back to look at Rick and T-Dog, finally answering: “Delivered pizzas. Why?” 

“No reason,” T-Dog shakes his head in disbelief and Rick tilts his head and gets this look on his face as though he’s wondering if Glenn is just fucking with him or not. Glenn can’t be sure, but he thinks Daryl just suppressed a snort in the background. 

\---

After peering over the side of the building and finding the alleyway clear of geeks, Glenn and Daryl use the ladder that he and Rick previously used on their escape route to climb down to the street below and settle behind a dumpster to keep out of sight. He only hopes that, as according to plan, Rick and T-Dog are moving into position a few blocks ahead. Glenn gets ready to move after Daryl finishes loading a bolt into his crossbow but before he can take a step onto the street, he feels his husband’s hand wrap tightly around his bicep and tug him back. Before he can utter a sound, a biting kiss is pressed to his mouth and is quickly followed by a warning. 

“Don’t be messin’ around out there.” 

Glenn rolls his eyes (this isn't the first time he’s done this---well, not this actually, but whatever—after all), presses a kiss to the underside of Daryl’s jaw in response and moves back to the edge of the alley to peer around the corner of the building. He meets Daryl’s eyes briefly one last time before finally just going for it. As he steps out onto the street, he dodges behind abandoned cars and uses them as shields to hide behind as far as he can. When he runs out of cars, he thankfully has the option of diving behind a pile of shored up sandbags that have been barricaded in the street. Taking a deep breath, he peers over the barrier to see where the guns are—thankfully, lying exactly where they’re expected to be—and one more deep, steadying breath and Glenn’s up and moving. Mere seconds later he’s reaching down and grabbing the bag and starting to move only to realize that Rick’s sheriff’s hat is still back there on the ground. _Dang, Rick probably would have enjoyed having that back._

He looks around the tank and notices a larger group of walkers having taken interest in him, curses under his breath, swerves back around to scoop up the hat ( _Guess Rick will be getting it after all_ ) and takes off in the opposite direction, back toward Daryl. His relief that he’s made it back to the alley only lasts a split second as he discovers that there are three other guys aside from Daryl in there and they are currently beating the crap out of his husband. Glenn stands there frozen in shock. However, two of the guys look up and notice him and unfortunately what he’s holding, “That’s it. That’s the bag, vato. Take it! Take it!” 

_Shit!_ Freaked, Glenn turns to run out of the alley as the unknown men start to advance on him; however, they only give chase and quickly catch him. He doesn't even make it to the entrance before they’re on him, one of them hitting him with a metal bat; Daryl, by this point, has managed to recover enough that he’s grabbed his crossbow and shot one of them in the ass. Unfortunately, it doesn't give Glenn enough leeway to get away. Fortunately, it does force the man who’d grabbed the bag of guns from Glenn’s hands to drop it back onto the ground. Glenn hears the sound of a car approaching and un-shot thug forces him to his feet, inching him back toward the entrance. Struggling, he starts screaming for Daryl, but it’s no use as they quickly force him into the car. By this point, walkers have heard the commotion in the alley and have swarmed the entrance, forcing Daryl to pull the gate at the alley’s entrance shut. The last thing he sees out the window the car before it pulls away is Daryl screaming something through the fence as Rick and T-Dog come running up behind him. 

\---

Glenn thinks he must have the shittiest luck in the world as the two thugs from the alley force him out of the car once it comes to a stop outside of abandoned factory building. He vindictively hopes that that arrow shot to the ass is hurting like a bitch as he’s manhandled in through the entrance and marched back through the building. As he gets further into the building, however, the more confused he becomes as he takes in the sights around him. He’s left to ponder what he has just seen once one of the thugs—Felipe—has bound his hands and duct-taped his mouth closed. 

He doesn't know how long he’s sat there in that little dark room until the door’s suddenly being jerked open and he’s being yanked to his feet. Before he knows it, he’s standing on the top of a building looking down at his husband and Rick and these people are threatening to toss him off the side if they don’t give up their guns. _What in the hell,_ Glenn thinks, _I am so very, desperately confused._ He wonders if that’s coming across in his expression or if he’s just looking terrified—after the things he’s seen these people doing, he doesn't really think they’ll throw him off of this building. Come on, these people are taking care of little old ladies and little old men for crying out loud! He’s even pretty sure he saw some fluffy little Chihuahuas running around. 

He watches and strains to listen as Rick and this group’s leader—Guillermo—bicker on the ground below and eventually come to a stalemate. Apparently, if his friends want him back, they have to hand over the bag of guns. Then Rick and Daryl are leaving and dragging a kid, whom Glenn thinks might have been from the skirmish back in the alley, with them, and once again Glenn finds himself back in the storeroom. He sighs dejectedly, wiggling around a little in attempts to free his hands. 

After some time passes, Glenn isn't exactly sure how long, the door is opening again, but this time it’s a guy that he doesn't recognize who’s asking him if he has any experience with asthma attacks; Glenn just sort of gives the guy a half-hearted shrug in response but the guy starts undoing his bindings and then leads him out further into the building (which appears to be some sort of nursing home and would explain all of the elderly folks) to where a group of older individuals are gathered around a man who is apparently suffering from an asthma attack---just great, now Glenn feels like a dick. 

Not really knowing what to do, Glenn sits down quietly to offer his support in any way he can—even if it’s only just being a comforting body to be nearby. Ultimately, one of the elderly women gets up and heads in the direction of the exit, but Glenn doesn't really pay much attention to her after that. After a while, she comes back, when Rick, Daryl, T-Dog and some of her people in tow. Daryl, upon catching sight of Glenn, rushes over to him and immediately begins checking him over for injuries. “What the fuck, kid?” He snaps. 

Yeah, Glenn doesn't really know what to say to that, so he just shrugs sheepishly as he watches Felipe move to help the older gentleman with an inhaler. Later, Guillermo explains that he was just trying to protect the supplies—the food, medicine—for the elderly here because they've encountered other hostile characters before and didn't expect anything different. He talks about how the staff abandoned all of the patients here and they’re unable to be transported or even take care of themselves. He ponders how he, a custodian, ended up becoming a leader to all of these people. Rick remarks that they’re able to rely on him simply because they can and ends up leaving several guns along with ammunition behind in order to help them out. 

\---

Glenn stays close to husband on the return trip out of the city, almost tucked into his side once they hit the outskirts. He realizes that this probably isn't the safest approach as it limits both his and Daryl’s mobility, but he just can’t force himself to move away; today was horrifying for him in a number of ways and he just feels safer where he is regardless of the logic of it. In his defense, Daryl doesn't protest his nearness either, merely works around the addition of another body’s mass in his space. 

Still, once the group returns to the abandoned railway station, Glenn reaches over to squeeze Daryl’s hand briefly before finally darting in front of the others to head toward the van. However, he stops in shock when he realizes that the van is actually gone, keys dangling uselessly in his hand. 

“Oh my god,” Glenn says. 

Daryl looks over at him, “Where the hell is our van?” 

“We left it right there? Who would take it?” Stunned, he turns to share a look with each member of the group before all four of them simultaneously let out a groan with an accompanied ‘Merle!’ 

Daryl shifts uncomfortably in place for several moments before remarking that they should really hurry back to camp, predicting that Merle may very well be on his way there to rain down his own brand of vengeance for what happened to him--“He’s gonna be taking some vengeance back to the camp.” 

When a quick glance around the area reveals no other viable vehicle in the area, he, Daryl, T-Dog and Rick take off running towards the hills as fast as they can. 

\---

“Shit!” Rick lets out a curse at the sounds of gunfire and screaming that can be heard coming from the direction of the camp and the men attempt to quicken their pace in desperation. They continue to race up the winding path of the mountain side and eventually burst onto the campsite to see everything in disarray. Numerous walkers have made headway into camp and are grabbing and devouring people left and right; some of survivors of the camp have managed, as apparently directed by Shane, to congregate in the middle of camp near the RV, while others, such as Morales and Jim, are attempting to hold the walkers back with baseball bats and various other makeshift weapons. 

Out of the Atlanta group, Rick is the first onto the scene, quickly blowing an approaching walker away with his gun. Daryl and Glenn follow directly behind him, Daryl firing his crossbow and Glenn unloading a rifle into the nearest remaining walkers; T-Dog brings up the rear with his own weapon, picking off any that they miss. Glenn catches sight of Daryl abandoning his crossbow in favor of smashing the nearest walkers’ skulls in with the butt of his gun and hears Rick shouting in the night for Lori and Carl. 

When it appears that all of the walkers have been put down, the remaining members of the camp gather around the RV, staring around the wreckage of what had been their home for the past few weeks with the distinct sound of Andrea’s distraught sobs playing as a soundtrack in the background. Dozens of bodies litter the ground, sadly both human and walker alike. Glenn stumbles his way to Daryl’s side, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist. Jim suddenly wanders over by Glenn and blurts out stunned, “I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes.” Glenn has no fucking clue over what holes he’s talking about and he really can’t deal with that now, so he turns away from the carnage in front of him and buries his face into Daryl’s chest. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Dialogue taken from episode five from season one.
> 
> Sorry for any grammar mistakes... I need to go back through this so badly!  
> \----------------------------------------------------------------------

The morning finds the remaining survivors attempting to salvage what remains of their campsite while cleaning up the various bodies, human and walker alike, scattered across the ground. Glenn’s currently helping T-Dog drag bodies into a pile so that they then can be burned; Daryl is off to the side swinging a pickaxe into the bodies’ heads to make sure they’re officially “dead” and remain that way. Glenn glances over at Andrea who is still kneeling on the ground next to Amy’s body; even though he feels terrible (who didn't like Amy?), he knows someone is going to have to go over there and either do or say something about this situation. Eventually, “Amy” is going to come back; both Lori and Rick attempt to approach her, but ultimately fail in their endeavors. Shaking his head, he turns his attention back to his work.

“Wake up, Jimbo, we've got some work to do,” Daryl says as he walks by, heading over to help Morales after he finishes up with the pickaxe. 

When Glenn catches sight of his husband and Morales dragging the body of one of their former campmates toward the burn pile, he feels all of the despair from last night well up inside of him and he loses it, yelling at the both of them. “What are you guys doing? This is for geeks. Our people go over there!” 

They both continue to drag the body as Daryl looks over his shoulder at him, “What’s the difference? They’re all infected.” 

Glenn steps forward and points, his voice trembling just a little, “Our people go in that row over there. We don’t burn them! We bury them. Understand? Our people go in that row over there.” 

Morales and Daryl glance at each other before the two meet Glenn’s eyes, but he refuses to back down on this. Thankfully, they merely reach down to drag the body over to the correct designated area. However, Daryl has clearly become frustrated at this point and begins yelling at the members of the camp. "You reap what you sow.” 

Morales snaps, “You know what? Shut up, man!” 

“Y’all left my brother for dead. You had this coming,” He snarls back, stomping off. 

Distraught, Glenn hastily wipes his face before making to go after Daryl. He’s interrupted by Jacqui’s hysterical shouting about Jim being bit just as he’s about to catch up with him. Startled, the remaining group members run over collectively with Daryl darting in first to lift Jim’s shirt up to reveal a stark bite mark, despite Jim’s continued protests of being okay. 

As the group contemplates what to do with the Jim-situation, Daryl offers up his own opinion, “I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl’s and be done with it.” 

“Is that what you’d want if it were you?” Shane demands. 

“Yeah, and I’d thank you while you did it.” 

“I hate to say it—I never thought I would—but maybe Daryl’s right,” Dale proposes hesitantly. 

“Jim’s not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog,” Rick objects. 

“I’m not suggesting—“ Dale protests, but Rick doesn't let him finish. 

“He’s sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?” 

“The line’s pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be,” Daryl states. 

“What if we can get him help? I heard the C.D.C. was working on a cure,” Rick offers. 

“I heard that, too. I heard a lot of things before the world went to hell,” Shane says. 

“What if the C.D.C. is still up and running?” Rick implores. 

Shane shakes his head slightly, “Man, that is a stretch right there.” 

“Why?” Rick questions. “If there’s any government left, any structure at all, they’d protect the C.D.C. at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it’s our best shot. Shelter, protection—“ 

“Okay, Rick,” Shane interrupts, “You want those things, all right? I do, too, okay? Now if they exist, they’re at the army base. Fort Benning.” 

“That’s 100 miles in the opposite direction,” Lori butts in. 

“That is right,” Shane agrees. “But it’s away from the hot zone. Now listen to me, if that place is operational, it’ll be heavily armed. We’d be safe there.” 

Rick disagrees. “The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The C.D.C. is our best choice and Jim’s only chance.” 

Daryl grips the pickaxe in his hand tightly. “You go looking for aspirin. Do what you need to do.” He turns and starts making his way for Jim. “Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!” 

“Hey, hey, hey!” Rick shouts, running over to point his gun at Daryl to halt his motions. “We don’t kill the living.” 

“That’s funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head,” Daryl snarks in reply. 

Shane steps up between Daryl and Jim. “We may disagree on some things, not on this. You put it down. Go on.” 

Daryl disgustedly throws the pickaxe down and walks away from the two. Glenn sighs inwardly, not sure what’s going to happen, but pretty sure he isn't going to like it either way. He watches silently as Rick moves Jim into the RV for now. 

\---

Somberly, the survivors gather around the holes that Rick and Shane previously dug to hold funerals for their fallen camp-mates; Glenn watches Andrea and Dale struggle with Amy’s body in despair. Amy had finally reanimated and Andrea had put her sister down herself, unwilling to allow anyone else to do it. After the funerals, the group members split off to smaller groups to continue cleaning up the mess the remains of the camp is in. Dale, Shane and Rick head off to look for remaining walkers and ensure the safety of the campsite. 

When the three return eventually, Shane calls everyone over for a group discussion. “I've been, uh—I've been thinking about Rick’s plan. Now look, there are no—there are no guarantees either way. I’ll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?” 

That night, Glenn curls up inside his sleeping bag in the tent that he is now sharing with Daryl—no more Merle, no more babysitting, so no more being separate—and ponders their situation. Obviously, they’re safer with larger numbers so staying with the group would be preferable; additionally, each member can contribute in ways that Glenn or Daryl may be unable to which would also be beneficial for them. Glenn’s just not sure how he feels about this situation with Rick and the C.D.C. and Shane and Fort Benning. Then there’s Daryl, who probably has his own (justifiable) reservations with this group and his hatred over the situation with Merle. 

\---

The next morning, once everyone (including Glenn and Daryl, who agreed they their best bet would be remaining with the group) has gathered around the caravan of vehicles with all of the supplies packed up and put away, Shane and Rick stand up in front of the group. Shane nods at Rick before he turns to address the group. “Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s we’re going to be on channel 40. Let’s keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don’t have a C.B., can’t get a signal or nothing at all, you’re gonna hit your horn one time. That’ll stop the caravan. Any questions?” 

Morales hesitantly steps forward. “We’re, uh..we’re—we’re not going.” Everyone’s just quiet until his wife finally speaks up. “We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people.” 

Shane responds with, “You go on your own, you won’t have anyone to watch your back,” while Rick looks at the ground in the background. 

“We’ll take the chance. I got to do what’s best for my family,” Morales replies. 

“You sure?” Rick questions. 

“We talked about it,” Morales affirms. “We’re sure.” 

“Alright,” Rick nods, before turning to Shane. He and Shane go through the weapons bag at their feet and eventually hand over a gun and some bullets to Morales—it isn't much, but it’s something at least. When that’s done, the group members tearfully say good-bye to one another and proceed to get into their designated vehicles. For now, Glenn is riding up front in the R.V. with Dale so that he can help out with directions (apparently no one else can read a friggin’ map these days?) while Daryl will be driving their truck, Merle’s motorcycle stashed in the bed (he was unwilling to give up that reminder of his brother, not that Glenn blames him). He presses a quick kiss to Daryl’s mouth before swinging his way up into the R.V. and settling into the front seat opposite the driver’s seat; he then spreads a map out on his lap and waits for the others to finish getting ready. With one last glance out the window, Dale starts up the R.V. and they pull out. 

Once they've gone about ten miles or so, Glenn lets his head fall to rest on the passenger side window and allows his thoughts to drift. Maybe it’s all of the horror from last night, but he can’t help but think back to when this all ‘started’ for him—it had been such a normal morning, too. 

_”Blergh,” Glenn mumbles out, rolling over to smack at the alarm clock that is cheerily messing up his once peaceful existence—and of course, it’s only his existence; he narrows his eyes as he peers over his shoulder as his unaffected bed partner. _Ridiculous,_ Glenn thinks, _can’t mutter a word under your breath from another room without him hearing, but god forbid an alarm clock be blaring right next to his head.__

_In retaliation Glenn slides one of his freezingly cold feet up—he forgot to wear socks to bed last night—and nudges it against the small of Daryl’s back, taking vindictive delight in the fact that it startles him awake almost instantaneously, “The hell, kid?”_

_While Glenn may be in his twenties now, it’s not like he ever actually grew up all that much (a fact that his eldest sister likes to point out incessantly). “Make me breakfast,” Glenn requests loftily while digging his big toe into Daryl’s back, not having removed his foot yet._

_“Make yer own breakfast,” Daryl retorts, his accent more apparent in his sleep-laden voice, and settles back down to return to sleep once he’s shrugged off Glenn’s questing foot._

_“Yeah, not going to happen,” Glenn freely admits, bodily rolling on top of his husband. “Daryl. Daaaaaryl. Daryl, Daryldaryldaryldaryl—“_

_“Christ!”_

\---

_Sitting on the kitchen counter, victoriously enjoying both the piece of bacon in his hand and the sight of his husband suffering through the process of making waffles, Glenn almost startles off the counter at the sudden pounding on their apartment door. He eyes it warily, as though the door itself is going to suddenly sprout fangs and bite him; he’ll be the first to admit that he and Daryl are not living in the best area and some of their neighbors are honestly quite sketchy. So it’s not like they've been super on top of getting to know them, and it’s unrealistic that said unknown-neighbors are that insistent about talking to either Daryl or Glenn. Thus, there’s only one likely candidate on the other side of that door and just…no._

_Glenn turns pleading eyes on Daryl only to be met with disdain as Daryl looks from himself to Glenn to the waffles with exaggerated slowness. “Fine!” He whines, hopping off the counter to head towards the door. “You have waffle mix in your hair!”_

_With a put upon sigh Glenn reaches the door and throws it open to reveal that his suspicions are correct: Merle’s standing on the other side, fist raised in the air in an aborted attempt to pound on the door again. He eyes Merle warily as the man enters the room and Glenn is able to shut the door behind him; Merle’s not as openly hostile to him anymore—not since he and Daryl apparently had a conversation about the fact that Glenn wasn't going anywhere (one would think their marriage would be proof of that) but Merle was more than welcome to if he couldn't accept that—nevertheless things aren't exactly best-friends-forever between them. Thankfully, he’s saved from having to make conversation by Daryl’s gruffly shouted _‘Merle’_ from the kitchen’s doorway._

_He cautiously slips by Merle, who’s still just stonily standing just inside the living room having some sort of silent conversation with Daryl via facial expressions and makes a beeline for the bedroom. He wastes a few minutes by straightening up the mess that is their sleeping-space—tossing dirty laundry in the hamper, putting his books back on the bookshelf, shoving Daryl’s boots back into the closet—before finally flopping back onto the bed. Bored he may be but nothing is going to make him go back out there._

_Not that Daryl leaves him much time to suffer anyway, storming into the room mere minutes later, barking “Get dressed. We’re leavin’.” over his shoulder._

_“Wha…why?”_

_Instead of answering right away, Daryl goes to the closet and starts packing various articles of their stuff into two duffle bags; Glenn fidgets nervously behind him, only moving to get dressed once Daryl pauses and shot him a glare; when the duffle bags are stuffed full and Daryl has managed to change out of his own pajamas, he finally answers. “Things ain't gettin’ any better.”_

_Right. One might think that a little vague, however, Glenn was pretty sure he knew what his boyfriend was talking about: he assumes this has to do with that mystery illness that’s causing people to go crazy and attack one another that’s been all over the news. He and Daryl had been fighting over whether or not they should just go and stay out at Merle’s (Daryl’s old) house and get out of the city and away from the problem; Glenn hadn't completely wanted to for a number of reasons: he assumed that doctors were going to figure out whatever was affecting these people and get it straightened out, they both still had work and so far, it hadn't seemed all that bad._

_Additionally, he hadn't wanted to put any more strain on the relationship between Daryl and Merle—his extended presence tended to do that. Daryl, on the other hand, had argued that it wasn't going to be safe for them to continue to stay here if things continued as they were—not knowing when or even if doctors were going to find anything out, how far this disease was going to spread—and they could always miss a few days of work. Guess whatever Merle and Daryl had been talking about had convinced the other man that things had, in fact, gotten to the point where he couldn't ignore them anymore._

_”Okay,” Glenn concedes then walks over to Daryl to place a hand on his arm. “We can do what you want to do.”_

\---

_Glenn has been in some pretty awkward situations in his life, he’s sure everyone has at some point or another, but he’s pretty sure this takes the cake: he’s currently squished in between his sweaty redneck husband and his husband’s older, racist, redneck brother who probably wishes he didn't exist in this very moment (or at any moment, if one is being honest) in the front seat of a truck that was clearly not meant for three adult men. To make matters worse, they’re currently stuck in an enormous traffic jam as it appears they’re not the only ones trying to leave the city. Yet, when Glenn looks across the highway, he notices that just as many people are trying to get into the city; Glenn’s not exactly sure which situation is better, but he trusts Daryl and Daryl seems to think that they need to leave._

_Since traffic has come to a standstill, Glenn pushes at his boyfriend’s side to get him to step out of the car—there’s no point in all three of them staying in the truck if they’re not moving and Glenn isn’t really willing to subject himself to Merle any more than necessary. Daryl apparently agrees as he puts the truck in park before cutting the engine; Glenn scoots across the seat and out the door after him as he exits, slamming the door closed behind them._

_Glancing around, he notices some people moving towards the forested area that overlooks Atlanta; with a thoughtful hum he looks back at the truck to make sure Merle is still with it—he is—before pulling Daryl along after them to see what’s gotten everyone so interested._

\--- 

_Horrified, Glenn leans back into Daryl’s safe embrace and watches as the helicopters continue to drop napalm on what was once his home. He feels his husband’s arms come up around his middle and Glenn tightens his grip almost painfully on them; if they hadn't left when they did with Merle, they would still be down there in that nightmare._

_Daryl leads him away through the forest and back toward the road, the truck and Merle as Atlanta burns behind them. They can’t stay here any longer._

\---

They haven’t been traveling very long on the road when the R.V. breaks down, forcing both Glenn out of his reverie and the entire caravan to come to a halt. Dale grumbles quietly to himself as he exits the vehicle and makes his way to the front where it’s steaming to start examining the extent of the damage. When Rick makes his way to the front of the R.V. to ask about repairs and timeframes, Dale complains about how he needed the part from Rick’s cube-van (that Merle stole) from before; Luckily, Shane mentions that he may have noticed a gas station, or at least something helpful, up ahead; he offers to go, T-Dog stepping up to act as back-up, to go looking for parts once Dale decides that he may be able to fix it. Meanwhile, Jacqui comes out to inform everyone that Jim’s health has gotten worse, much to everyone’s dismay. 

Rick goes in to check on Jim, leaving everyone else outside. Glenn anxiously wanders over to Daryl who’s chosen to settle himself on the back of his truck; he’s gnawing on his thumbnail, a nervous habit he falls back into occasionally. Glenn slaps at his hand scoldingly before lacing their fingers together and resting his head on Daryl’s shoulder; it may make him a horrible person, but he’s incredibly glad that neither one of them are in Jim’s situation. 

Maybe Rick will turn out to be right and they’ll get to the C.D.C. and they’ll have figured out some way to cure, or at least combat, whatever this virus is. If not either of those things, maybe it’ll be a place that’s safe, a place to rest for a while. But if not…but if not and he ends up in Jim’s situation, Glenn has to know that Daryl will…do what has to be done. While he was certainly ready to step up to the task earlier with Jim and Amy’s body, it’s a different situation with someone that you love. 

“D-Daryl,” he begins, swallowing with some difficulty as he feels his husband’s grip on his hand tighten. “You know that if I ever get infec—that if this ever happens to me—“ 

“It ain't gonna.” 

“You can’t promise that!” 

“I can sure as hell do what I can to make sure it doesn't happen,” he persists, gaze going steely. 

“You just have to promise me that you’ll do what you have to do. I can’t be the one that ends up hurting you.” 

“Like I said,” Daryl continues to argue, leaning forward to press his forehead against Glenn’s. “It ain't gonna happen.” 

“But—“ Unfortunately, Rick chooses that moment to come back out and motion for the adults to come over, including Shane and T-Dog who have returned at this point; Dale assures the rest of them that he can indeed fix the R.V., enough for them to reach the C.D.C. at any rate, with what they've managed to find. Sighing deeply and knowing that he’ll have to return to this conversation with Daryl sooner rather than later, he hops off the truck-bed and tugs Daryl over in the direction of Rick. 

Rick informs everyone that Jim has requested that he be left here rather than continue on to the C.D.C. with the rest of them; Dale and Lori both advocate respecting Jim’s wishes which ultimately moves the rest of the group into complying. They carry Jim up a small hill on the side of the road and settle him beneath the shade of a large tree in attempts to make him as comfortable as possible. Everyone says their good-byes and Jim refuses a gun when Rick offers him one. As the group disperses, solemnly making their way back to their individual vehicles, Dale begins his task of fixing the R.V.; they’re back on the road to continue on their way to the C.D.C. as soon as they are able. 

\---

“Jesus,” Glenn breathes out in a sort of morbid awe as he takes in the sight in front of him when the caravan finally pulls to a stop near the C.D.C. building. The area around the building is in ruins, with bodies scattered everywhere—and what looks like evidence of another military cordon being overrun. He glances over to share a worried look with Dale before preparing to depart from the vehicle. 

He opens the door and steps outside with Jacqui behind him, rifle (guess that bag of guns was worth it after all) in his hands in case he needs in. He feels the familiar sadness well up inside him at the sight of so much loss and devastation but also the disgust at what humanity’s been reduced to. He’s never been more thankful that he’s still managed to have his family—Daryl—than in moments like these, so he looks towards the back of the group to meet Daryl’s eyes before following after Rick who’s started toward the C.D.C. building in the distance. Everyone quietly maneuvers around the bodies, trying to suppress their coughing and gag reflexes. 

Shane whispers, “All right, everybody, keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let’s go.” 

Over the buzzing of what has to be hundreds of flies and various other insects, Glenn hears Rick also instructing everyone to: “Okay, keep moving. Stay together,” and Shane’s incessant shushing. Thankfully, they haven’t seen any Walkers up and moving around yet. 

_Oh, god._ Glenn internally gags, stumbling into Daryl slightly as he tries to avoid stepping on the various bodies scattered literally everywhere and suffers a close call. Daryl reaches out to steady him before encouraging him to continue moving forward. Telling himself that it’ll be over soon, he focuses harder on where he’s walking as the group makes its way closer to the front doors of the building and around the huge tanks the military was obviously forced to leave behind. 

“Keep it together. Come on.” 

Shane and Rick reach the metal-shuttered doors of the building first. They both check around but find them locked. “Nothing?” Rick questions. 

Shane uselessly tries to shove the shutters up before turning to pound on the door, hoping for someone inside to hear him. Rick hisses through his teeth as he looks around, noticing that it’s starting to get dark outside. 

“There’s nobody here,” T-Dog accuses. 

Rick counters with: “Then why are these shutters down?” 

Glenn jerks as Daryl suddenly forces him behind him, before shouting a warning out to the group, “Walkers!” He fires off an arrow, which lands directly in the forehead of a walker stumbling its way toward them, effectively ending it as an active threat. “You led us into a graveyard! 

“He made a call!” Shane shouts, defending Rick. 

“It was the wrong damn call!” 

This pisses Shane off. “Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up!” He yells, grabbing hold of Daryl to shove him back. Then, he turns back to Rick, “Rick, this is a dead end.” 

Carol chooses this moment to ask, “Where are we gonna go?” 

“Do you hear me? No blame,” Shane continues. 

“She’s right. We can’t be here. This close to the city after dark,” Lori exclaims. 

“Fort Benning, Rick—still an option,” Shane says. 

“On what? No food, no fuel. That’s 100 miles!” Andrea snaps, frustrated. 

“125. I checked the map,” Glenn butts in, because really. If they’re going to start complaining about that, they can at least get it right. 

“Forget Fort Benning,” Lori shouts, “We need answers tonight, now.” 

“We’ll think of something,” Rick says, finally taking his attention off the building to look at Lori. 

“Come on, let’s go!” She says, pulling on him. 

Other members of the group, Shane included, start pleading about leaving and going. As Rick seems to finally relent and they begin to back up, Shane starts directing everyone back to the cars. Glenn follows Daryl’s, who has already started in that direction, lead without Shane’s approval, crossbow up and ready. However, they both freeze when Rick suddenly exclaims, “The camera—it moved.” 

“You imagined it,” Dale says. 

“It moved,” Rick protests stubbornly and moves back toward the building. 

Fed up, Shane moves back to his side. “Rick, it is dead, man. It’s an automated device, it’s gears, okay? They’re just winding down. Now, come on.” He starts to pull Rick back, but he struggles against his grip. “Man, just listen to me. Look around this place. It’s dead, okay? You need to let it go, Rick. Rick there’s nobody here!” 

Breaking out of his grip, Rick runs up and pounds on the shuttered door again, “I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me. Please, we’re desperate. Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left. We have nowhere else to go.” 

“Keep your eyes open,” Shane hisses out to the others, then once again turns back toward Rick. Glenn looks at Daryl, biting his lip nervously—they really, really need to be doing something, preferably not standing out in the open attracting more and more walkers. 

Rick continues his assault on the building and pays no attention to Shane, or anyone else for that matter: “If you don’t let us in, you’re killing us! Please!” 

Shane, finally having enough, grabs Rick around the middle and proceeds to forcefully drag him back in the direction of the cars, despite Rick’s continued pleading. “Come on, buddy, let’s go.” Just as Shane turns and shoves Rick hard in the direction of the rest of the group, the shuttered door finally opens up behind them and bathes them all in light. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: You know the drill by now, dialog lifted from episode six from season one, so here’s your warning.
> 
> Sorry for any structural/grammatical errors--I'm in the process of going back through this. Still not beta read.
> 
> \-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Glenn lets out a breath of relief, hoping that it’s not too premature for such a thing, and follows after the others once Rick and Shane start corralling the group through the building’s recently opened entrance. He hears Shane call out to Daryl, asking him to cover their backs. Once inside, they fan out on the lower level but stay within one another’s sights, looking for whoever opened the door. Rick, seeing no one, calls out a greeting while Shane turns his attention to trying to get the doors closed. 

“Hello?” An unfamiliar voice sounds out, causing Glenn to quickly cock his gun and point it in the direction that the voice originated from. Rick follows suit and eventually a middle-aged gentleman steps out into their line of sight with the quietly demanded question of, “Anybody infected?” 

Rick, since he’s apparently taking the role of leader in this situation, responds with: “One of our group was. He didn't make it.” 

“Why are you here? What do you want?” The man questions further, advancing into the room. 

“A chance.” 

“That’s asking an awful lot these days.” 

“I know.” 

The un-named man looks around at all of their faces before looking back at Rick. “You all submit to a blood test. That’s the price of admission.” 

“We can do that.” 

“You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed.” 

Dale and T-Dog stand watch for approaching walkers while he, Rick, Shane and Daryl run outside to grab their supplies and bags. As soon as they’re inside of the door, the man turns to talk to the control panel next to the door, “VI, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here.” They watch as the shutters close back down over the doors and the lights go back out. Rick moves forward slightly to introduce himself. Afterwards, the man returns the gesture and introduces himself as a Doctor Edwin Jenner. 

\---

During the elevator ride down to the lower levels, Daryl glances over at Jenner, “Doctors always go around packing heat like that?” 

“There were plenty left lying around, I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough.” He replies, before glancing down at Carl. “Except you. I’ll have to keep my eye on you.” This causes Carl to smile slightly, which Glenn appreciates. He leads them down a long hallway as soon as they reach the appropriate floor and out into some sort of control room, where he reveals that he is the only one left at the C.D.C.--a proclamation that is met with subdued glances shared amongst the group. 

Jenner then leads everyone to one of the smaller rooms where he can take a sample of their blood. When Andrea’s turn has come and gone and she almost stands up and passes out, swaying slightly on her feet, it’s revealed that the group really hasn't been able to eat in a few days, so Jenner takes them to the kitchen and dining area. Settled in seats around a large table, everyone finally lets go and relaxes—Lori even lets Carl try some wine which produces a hilarious reaction and Daryl tries (in fact succeeds) to get him drunk—for the first time in what seems like ages. For at last they feel safe—both in location and in current company. 

Rick attempts to toast Jenner for his hospitality, but Shane chooses to ruin the atmosphere of good feelings by asking what truly occurred in the facility. Jenner explains that many people simply fled once they realized what was happening: went home to their families and loved ones. Others, who couldn't face walking out the door to what awaited them, committed suicide. Jenner claims that he remained behind because he just hoped to do some small measure of good by continuing his work. These revelations cause a somber mood to settle over the survivors. 

As soon as everyone finishes eating, Jenner continues his tour of the facilities; he directs the group toward their sleeping quarters and mentions that the kids might enjoy the rec room that’s located down the hall. He asks that they try not to use the electricity and to go easy on the hot water. Glenn is personally delighted at the idea of hot water. He looks toward the back of the group to catch Daryl’s eye before moving toward a room at the end of the hall. 

Once inside, he drops his belongings off of the side of the door and all but runs for the bathroom, tugging his shirt over his head as he goes. Behind him, he hears Daryl enter the room and shut the door. He’s in the process of yanking off his jeans and boxer-briefs when he hears the tell-tale thumps of Daryl’s bags hitting the floor next to his and then silence; shrugging, he strips his shoes and socks off and then almost trips and brains himself in his excitement to actually get into a shower with not only running water, but _hot_ running water. 

Glenn is so blissed out from the feeling of a real shower that he doesn't notice Daryl’s presence behind him until he feels the brush of lips across the nape of his neck. He’s sure that his husband would normally have a few choice words about his lack of awareness, but for now they are safe behind secure doors, and his only comments are the kisses he continues pressing down his nape and along his right shoulder. 

As he allows his body to lean back against Daryl’s sturdier one, Glenn lets out a peaceful sigh when he feels Daryl’s hands slide up his flanks with one coming to rest teasingly below his navel. Typically Glenn’s unable to help the babble that flows from his mouth in these situations, but the combination of simple comforts, safety and the alcohol from dinner leave him a silent, compliant dead-weight against his husband. Like usual, Daryl remains a quiet, yet intense and focused presence behind him. 

Despite this being a perfect chance to catch up on previously missed opportunities while being enthusiastic about it, Daryl doesn't disrupt the tranquil aura that’s settled over them; he keeps his touches light and teasing, trailing his hands up and down Glenn’s thighs and avoiding the area where Glenn would normally be pleading for him to touch. When he finally does receive that specific brand of attention, Glenn doubts he’ll be able to last long at all with how he’s feeling and how long it’s been since they've done anything remotely resembling this. 

When Daryl finally wraps a hand around Glenn’s erection, he feels his husband’s own press against his cheeks as he starts to placidly rut against him, timing the movements of his hand with that of his thrusts. True to his own predictions, Glenn doesn't last very long at all with the combined attentions Daryl is paying to both his front and back; as his release comes upon him, he turns his face and presses his mouth against the underside of his partner’s jaw in attempts to muffle his cries. Satiated and basking in the afterglow, Glenn collapses forward against the shower wall, narrowly avoiding getting a face full of water and sighs contently as Daryl slowly brings himself to his own completion against Glenn’s backside, both hands now firmly grasping his hips. 

For the first time in what feels like forever, Glenn is truly exhausted and doesn't force himself to power through it; he remains slumped forward against the wall while Daryl cleans them off and gently herds him from the shower. Glenn watches placidly as his husband looks around for a towel to first dry Glenn off followed by himself; he occasionally has to stop what he’s doing and help Glenn straighten up so that he doesn't topple over. Once satisfactorily dry, Daryl manages to successfully clothe them for bed before scooping Glenn up into his arms; Glenn grumbles half-heartedly in protest, but it’s lessened by the fact that his face is currently smooshed in his husband’s chest. The last thing he remembers is the feeling of his head touching the pillow once Daryl makes it to the bed and lowers him down on it. 

\---

“Morning,” Rick greets the group as he joins them for breakfast in the morning. Glenn really wishes everyone would just stop talking. He moans pitifully into his arms, where he’s buried his head in order to escape from any and all sounds and lights. 

Regrettably, that doesn't seem to work as he hears Carl ask his father, “Are you hungover? Mom said you’d be.” The little shi---the little _delight_ \--sounds ecstatic about it, too. 

“Mom is right.” 

“Mom has that annoying habit,” Lori remarks, smirking. 

“Eggs, powdered, but—but I do ‘em good.” T-Dog announces, from the kitchen area, bringing over a skillet of freshly cooked eggs. “I bet you can’t tell.” Glenn lifts his head and groans at the ear-splitting level in which he is speaking. 

_Oh, god._ Glenn feels his stomach roll traitorously when T-Dog scoops some onto his plate with the smart-assed comment of, “Protein helps the hangover.” He’s going to fucking kill Daryl—where is that bastard anyway? “Don’t ever, ever, ever let me drink again,” He murmurs to Jacqui, who has taken pity on him and is gently rubbing his back. He also chooses to block out whatever drama is currently going on with everyone else—namely Shane, Rick and Lori—until Dr. Jenner walks into the room and Dale starts asking him questions; unfortunately, Glenn is interested in that, so he puts aside his discomfort and forces himself to pay attention. 

\---

Dr. Jenner leads them back into the control room that they visited yesterday where he asks VI, the center’s A.I., to bring up information regarding Test Subject 19, an individual who was infected and then allowed for the process to be recorded and studied. The group watches, and listens, as the scientist takes them through the process of what happens once someone is bitten—explaining that the “you” part of one’s brain fails to come back during the reanimation process, as the virus only restarts the brain stem as opposed to the entire brain. 

Once the demonstration is over, Andrea snaps both angrily and hopelessly at Jenner, accusing the man of actually knowing nothing about the virus. When Jenner is questioned about the prospect of their being others—meaning other scientists or doctors working at other centers--he half-heartedly admits that there might be, but he doesn't know—he’s been in the ‘dark’ for close to a month. This further angers Andrea, as she points out that Jenner is implying that there isn't anything helpful remaining out there and that the virus has spread too far. When the scientist offers no counterargument, various members of the group start expressing their frustrations and hopelessness. 

However, Dale chooses that moment to ask Jenner one more question: there’s a large red counter downing down on the back wall and he wishes to know what it is. Jenner merely remarks that eventually the basement generators will run out of fuel and walks out of the room, despite Rick asking about what happens after that. Since Jenner chooses not to answer, Rick asks the center’s A.I., VI. The A.I. responds by saying that when the power runs out, the facility will automatically decontaminate. 

“Decontaminate—what does that mean?” Glenn worriedly asks Rick, as he hurries after him to the basement, along with T-Dog and Shane, to check on the generators. 

“I don’t like the way Jenner clammed up,” Shane remarks. “The way he just wandered off like that.” 

T-Dog, bringing up the rear of the group, mutters, “What’s wrong with him? Seriously, man, is he nuts, medicated, what?” 

Rick pauses at a map of the facility to locate the generators before leading the group forward, “In there.” They move forward until they come to a door and step through to be greeted by the sight of various types of machinery. “Check that way,” he says to T-Dog and Glenn, pointing off to the side. Then he turns in the other direction, calling out to Shane. 

Glenn and T start down the indicated path, looking over the various machines. Eventually, they come upon several oil drums but they all empty turn out to be empty. While they’re looking, the sounds of the generator clacking can be heard and the lights suddenly go out; after a second or two, Glenn hears VI announce that the emergency lighting has come on. He and T-Dog quickly run back toward Rick and Shane and ask, “Hey, did you guys kill the lights?” 

“Nah, it just went out,” Shane answers. 

“Anything?” Rick asks, looking up at their approach. 

“Yeah,” T-Dog scoffs, “A lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count.” 

“It can’t be down to just that one,” Shane argues disbelievingly. Sadly, it does turn out to be just that one. 

\---

Glenn and the others make their way back upstairs to the main control room, where they discover that the rest of their group has gathered and are actively questioning Jenner, who is still remaining tight-lipped on the subject. As they burst into the room, he hears Daryl angrily ask, “Hey, man, I’m talking to you. What do you mean it’s shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?” 

Jenner mutters, “You’d be surprised.” 

“Rick?” Lori calls out as she catches sight of them. 

Rick holds up his hand to stop her before approaching Jenner, “Jenner, what’s happening?” 

“The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It’s designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark.” As they come into view of the countdown, he points over to it, “Right on schedule.” He takes a swig of the liquor bottle that he’s now carrying with him before turning back to Andrea, “It was the French.” 

“What?” She asks, confused. 

“They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs until the end. They thought they were close to a solution.” 

“What happened?” Jacqui asks. 

“The same thing that’s happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?” He tells them before turning to walk up towards the work stations. 

Angered, Shane goes after him, “Let me tell you—“ 

“To hell with it, Shane,” Rick interrupts. “I don’t even care. Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We’re getting out of here now!” 

Glenn, along with everyone else, moves toward the exit of the main control room at Rick’s command but are unfortunately unable to leave. Jenner closes the door of the room via a remote control once an alarm sounds announcing that there are only thirty minutes remaining until decontamination. Distraught, Glenn turns around to look at Jenner, “Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!” 

“You son of a bitch!” Daryl yells, going after Jenner; Rick, too far away, calls out for Shane to stop Daryl, and he manages to restrain him in time with the help of T-Dog; Glenn cautiously heads in their direction. Meanwhile, Lori rushes to Carl’s side and Jenner, ignoring everyone else in the room, begins a video recording stating that the 30-minute countdown has begun. Pissed off, Rick marches over to Jenner, demanding, “Hey, Jenner. Open that door now.” 

“There’s no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed.” 

“Well, open the damn things.” 

“That’s not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It’s better this way.” Glenn stares at the man in shock, wondering how he can rationalize any of this as 'better.' Feeling slightly sick to his stomach, he's about to ask what happens when the clock actually does reach zero, even though he has a pretty good idea, but Rick beats him to it. 

“What is?” Rick snaps back. “What happens in 28 minutes?” 

Jenner ignores Rick’s question, turning around to start typing at the workstation. Annoyed with the scientist, Shane knocks into his shoulder and Rick repeats his question again. Angrily, Jenner stands up and shouts. “You know what this place is!? We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don’t want getting out! Ever!” After he finishes his small rant, he visibly calms himself and sits back down. “In the event of a catastrophic power failure—in a terrorist attack for example—H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out.” 

“H.I.T.s?” 

“VI, define.” Jenner requests. They hear the computerized voice automatically respond with: “H.I.T.'s—high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5000 and 6000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.” Various members of the group, including Lori and Carol, start crying as they hear the definition while Jenner calmly states, “It sets the air on fire. No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret. Everything.” The sick feeling in Glenn's stomach increases as his hunch is proven true; he moves to reach for his husband but finds him already moving away. 

Refusing to accept Jenner's plan, Daryl and Shane try to break down the door to the room with axes, but of course, they get nowhere. Meanwhile, the rest of the group sits near Jenner, furiously arguing with him. “You should have left well enough alone,” He remarks. “It would've been so much easier.” 

Lori angrily counters, “Easier for who?” 

“All of you. You know what’s out there—a short, brutal life and an agonizing death.” Looking away from Lori, he turns his attention to Andrea, “Your—your sister—what was her name?” 

“Amy.” 

“Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?” 

Rick leans forward into Jenner’s space, “I don’t want this.” Glenn can whole-heartedly agree with him here. While he may not wish to suffer “a short, brutal life and an agonizing death,” he certainly doesn't wish to suffer this sort of end either. 

Shane and Daryl come over and Shane informs Rick that they can’t make a dent. When Jenner scoffs and says that that door was built to withstand rocket launchers, Daryl attempts to put an ax in Jenner’s face, but is stopped once again. Seething, he returns to Glenn's side and allows the younger man to finally lean against him in distressed horror: there's no apparent way out of this situation other than by Jenner's will alone. 

Looking at Rick, Jenner scoffs, “You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead.” 

Shocked, Lori stares up at Rick while Shane looks at Rick annoyed; Glenn feels slightly betrayed. “What? You really said that? After all your big talk?” Shane demands. 

“I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?” Rick replies, looking down at Lori. 

“There is no hope.” Jenner states, “There never was.” 

“There’s always hope,” Rick argues back. “Maybe it won’t be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere—“

“What part of ‘everything is gone’ do you not understand?” Andrea abruptly interjects. 

Jenner looks back at Rick, advising, “Listen to your friend, she gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event.” 

“This isn't right,” Carol cries out, speaking up for once. “You can’t just keep us here.” 

“One tiny moment—a millisecond. No pain,” Jenner offers in an attempt to sooth her. 

Shaking her head, Carol continues with: “My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this.” _None of us do, _Glenn thinks viciously.__

As Shane angrily storms off, Dr. Jenner remains steadfast in his endeavors to convince them, “Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?” Glenn doesn't mind holding onto Daryl, but he finds nothing compassionate about forcing execution on those who do not want it. 

No one notices Shane with the gun until he cocks it and moves back toward the scientist, demanding that he open the door. Rick, however, moves forward to stop him, but Shane merely loses it and starts firing around the room in rage; Rick eventually gets the gun away from him after he knocks him to the ground. Then, he turns back to Jenner. “I think you’re lying.” 

“What?” 

“You’re lying. About no hope. If that were true, you’d have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?” 

“It doesn't matter.” 

“It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?” 

“Not because I wanted to. I made a promise…to her. My wife.” 

“Test Subject 19 was your wife?” Lori asks, horrified as she makes the connection. 

“She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no? She was dying. It should’ve been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I’m just Edwin Jenner. She could’ve done something about this. Not me.” 

“Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That’s—that’s all we want—a choice. A chance,” Rick pleads.

“Let us keep trying as long as we can,” Lori begs. 

“I told you topside’s locked down. I can’t open those,” Jenner finally—thankfully—relents, moving to unlock the room. 

Glenn, along with everyone else, watches frozen until he hears Daryl yell, “Come on!” as the door finally opens. Glenn darts up the pathway after his husband, shouting back to the others, “come on, let’s go!” The remaining group members, shaken out of their apparent stunned stupor, start to follow after them. Carl rushes up to Glenn alone, causing him to pause; he turns around and sees that Rick is still talking to Jenner. Shaking his head in dismay, as he knows there will be no changing Jenner’s mind about staying, he calls out, “Hey, we've got four minutes left! Come on!” Rick, apparently releasing that his efforts are futile, thankfully starts to move his ass. As everyone gathers at the entrance of the control room, Jacqui and Andrea announce that they are staying to follow in Jenner’s footsteps. This exclamation causes Dale to stay behind but not before he tells everyone else to just go. 

Upstairs on the ground floor, they do indeed find the doors locked; no amount of beating on the glass windows with the axes or various objects appears to be doing any good. The entire situation appears hopeless until Carol mentions that she has something that may help—something that she found in Rick’s belongings; it turns out to be a grenade. Rick awkwardly detonates the grenade and it successfully blows one of the windows out of the building, enabling the group to escape with minutes to spare. Unfortunately, there is still no sign of Dale, Andrea or Jacqui. 

\---

Outside of the building, the remaining survivors make a break for the vehicles they’d left behind which they can see in the distance, dodging the walkers they can and shooting others they cannot as they go. Glenn, the first to arrive at the R.V., hastily throws the door open, hurriedly checking inside for any stray walkers (he hasn't survived this long by not being careful). Rick, Lori and Carl follow quickly behind him as the others hand for the other vehicles. Frantic, he checks out the window to make sure that Daryl has reached his truck, calming only once receives visual confirmation that this is in fact true. Rick dives for the driver’s seat in order to pull away—the clock is ticking after all—however is stopped by Lori’s urgent shouts at the last minute. “Wait, wait, wait, wait! They’re coming.” 

Glenn, Rick and Carl all glance out of the front window and see Andrea and Dale making their way out of the building. Glenn rushes to throw the door of the R.V. open, shouting “Come on!” to the both of them, urging them to move faster. They don’t manage to make it close enough in time and Glenn slams the door closed once again only to dive towards the seat where Carl is sitting as Rick shouts out a warning as the H.I.T.’s make their appearance; he hopes Andrea and Dale managed to make it far enough away from the building. 

As soon as the ground stops shaking from the explosion, Glenn, shaken himself, rises from his crouched position over Carl to stare blankly out the front window back towards what remains of the C.D.C. In shock, he numbly continues to watch the flames and black smoke rise into the air even as Dale finally makes it to the R.V., with Andrea in tow, and fumbles back into the driver’s seat that Rick relinquishes. 

The caravan morosely makes its way out of the area after Rick’s made sure everyone is unharmed in a viable vehicle. Glenn’s not sure what they’re going to do at this point—like Andrea pointed at before, they have almost no gas, no food, no medical supplies, nothing. What they did have before supplies-wise went up in flames with the C.D.C. building, but at least they are still alive and have the chance to figure out what they’re going to do and he’s thankful for that. At least he still has Daryl and that’s all he needs to move willingly toward whatever the future holds for him. 


End file.
